SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
EU Slams Israeli Settlements, Urges Sanctions in New Report
Settlement expansion is 'systematic, deliberate and provocative'
Feb 27, 2013
Illegal settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem poses the greatest threat to peace between Israel and Palestine, the European Union said in a report that urges all EU states to end all financial investments or transactions that could directly or indirectly aid the settlement-building process.
Written by the EU heads of mission in Jerusalem and Ramallah, the previously unpublished 'Jerusalem Report 2012'--which was obtained by Haaretz--calls for economic sanctions on all settlements. Additionally, the report argues that Israel's persistent settlement expansion is "systematic, deliberate and provocative" and a sabotage on the Israel/Palestine peace process.
According to the report, Israel is "systematically undermining the Palestinian presence" in Jerusalem, through policies including "restrictive zoning and planning, demolitions and evacuations, discriminatory access to religious sites, an inequitable education policy, difficult access to health care, the inadequate provision of resources."
According to Haaretz, the report most pointedly reprimands Israel over its recent construction plans in Area E-1, which would link Jerusalem to the nearby West Bank settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim.
This expansion in E-1 "threatens 2,300 Bedouin with forcible transfer," the report states, and "would effectively divide the West Bank into separate northern and southern parts." It would also "prevent Palestinians in East Jerusalem from further urban development and cut off East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank."
Settlement plans for this area were made official in late November after Palestinians gained observer state status at the United Nations, and include over 5,000 new Jewish settlements in the West Bank in the near future.
The report urges EU member states to "coordinate EU monitoring and a strong EU response in order to prevent settlement construction in E-1, including opposing forced transfer of the Bedouin communities in E-1."
The report makes six recommendations on economic issues, suggesting member states "prevent, discourage and raise awareness about problematic implications of financial transactions, including foreign direct investments, from within the EU in support of settlement activities, infrastructure and services."
Among the more specific actions suggested by the EU, Haaretz reports:
Seven of the report's 10 recommendations deal with imposing direct or indirect sanctions by the European Union on bodies and organizations involved in construction in the settlements. The recommendation to actively encourage European divestment from the settlements is particularly severe, compared with previous internal EU reports.
The consuls recommend that the EU ensure strict application of the free trade agreement between the EU and Israel so that products manufactured in settlements do not benefit from preferential treatment. Another clause recommends encouraging efforts to enforce existing legislation requiring products made in the settlements to be labeled as such at sales points.
The report was originally handed to the EU institutions in Brussels and to the foreign ministries of the 27 member states in early January.
_______________________
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Jacob Chamberlain
Jacob Chamberlain is a former staff writer for Common Dreams. He is the author of Migrant Justice in the Age of Removal. His website is www.jacobpchamberlain.com.
Illegal settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem poses the greatest threat to peace between Israel and Palestine, the European Union said in a report that urges all EU states to end all financial investments or transactions that could directly or indirectly aid the settlement-building process.
Written by the EU heads of mission in Jerusalem and Ramallah, the previously unpublished 'Jerusalem Report 2012'--which was obtained by Haaretz--calls for economic sanctions on all settlements. Additionally, the report argues that Israel's persistent settlement expansion is "systematic, deliberate and provocative" and a sabotage on the Israel/Palestine peace process.
According to the report, Israel is "systematically undermining the Palestinian presence" in Jerusalem, through policies including "restrictive zoning and planning, demolitions and evacuations, discriminatory access to religious sites, an inequitable education policy, difficult access to health care, the inadequate provision of resources."
According to Haaretz, the report most pointedly reprimands Israel over its recent construction plans in Area E-1, which would link Jerusalem to the nearby West Bank settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim.
This expansion in E-1 "threatens 2,300 Bedouin with forcible transfer," the report states, and "would effectively divide the West Bank into separate northern and southern parts." It would also "prevent Palestinians in East Jerusalem from further urban development and cut off East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank."
Settlement plans for this area were made official in late November after Palestinians gained observer state status at the United Nations, and include over 5,000 new Jewish settlements in the West Bank in the near future.
The report urges EU member states to "coordinate EU monitoring and a strong EU response in order to prevent settlement construction in E-1, including opposing forced transfer of the Bedouin communities in E-1."
The report makes six recommendations on economic issues, suggesting member states "prevent, discourage and raise awareness about problematic implications of financial transactions, including foreign direct investments, from within the EU in support of settlement activities, infrastructure and services."
Among the more specific actions suggested by the EU, Haaretz reports:
Seven of the report's 10 recommendations deal with imposing direct or indirect sanctions by the European Union on bodies and organizations involved in construction in the settlements. The recommendation to actively encourage European divestment from the settlements is particularly severe, compared with previous internal EU reports.
The consuls recommend that the EU ensure strict application of the free trade agreement between the EU and Israel so that products manufactured in settlements do not benefit from preferential treatment. Another clause recommends encouraging efforts to enforce existing legislation requiring products made in the settlements to be labeled as such at sales points.
The report was originally handed to the EU institutions in Brussels and to the foreign ministries of the 27 member states in early January.
_______________________
Jacob Chamberlain
Jacob Chamberlain is a former staff writer for Common Dreams. He is the author of Migrant Justice in the Age of Removal. His website is www.jacobpchamberlain.com.
Illegal settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem poses the greatest threat to peace between Israel and Palestine, the European Union said in a report that urges all EU states to end all financial investments or transactions that could directly or indirectly aid the settlement-building process.
Written by the EU heads of mission in Jerusalem and Ramallah, the previously unpublished 'Jerusalem Report 2012'--which was obtained by Haaretz--calls for economic sanctions on all settlements. Additionally, the report argues that Israel's persistent settlement expansion is "systematic, deliberate and provocative" and a sabotage on the Israel/Palestine peace process.
According to the report, Israel is "systematically undermining the Palestinian presence" in Jerusalem, through policies including "restrictive zoning and planning, demolitions and evacuations, discriminatory access to religious sites, an inequitable education policy, difficult access to health care, the inadequate provision of resources."
According to Haaretz, the report most pointedly reprimands Israel over its recent construction plans in Area E-1, which would link Jerusalem to the nearby West Bank settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim.
This expansion in E-1 "threatens 2,300 Bedouin with forcible transfer," the report states, and "would effectively divide the West Bank into separate northern and southern parts." It would also "prevent Palestinians in East Jerusalem from further urban development and cut off East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank."
Settlement plans for this area were made official in late November after Palestinians gained observer state status at the United Nations, and include over 5,000 new Jewish settlements in the West Bank in the near future.
The report urges EU member states to "coordinate EU monitoring and a strong EU response in order to prevent settlement construction in E-1, including opposing forced transfer of the Bedouin communities in E-1."
The report makes six recommendations on economic issues, suggesting member states "prevent, discourage and raise awareness about problematic implications of financial transactions, including foreign direct investments, from within the EU in support of settlement activities, infrastructure and services."
Among the more specific actions suggested by the EU, Haaretz reports:
Seven of the report's 10 recommendations deal with imposing direct or indirect sanctions by the European Union on bodies and organizations involved in construction in the settlements. The recommendation to actively encourage European divestment from the settlements is particularly severe, compared with previous internal EU reports.
The consuls recommend that the EU ensure strict application of the free trade agreement between the EU and Israel so that products manufactured in settlements do not benefit from preferential treatment. Another clause recommends encouraging efforts to enforce existing legislation requiring products made in the settlements to be labeled as such at sales points.
The report was originally handed to the EU institutions in Brussels and to the foreign ministries of the 27 member states in early January.
_______________________
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.